Conspiracy against the Flames? Or are the fans crazy?

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Hockeyguy15

Feels like a conspiracy, but more than likely it's just the league is incompetent and inconsistent.

Just for fun.

https://twitter.com/grantfuhr/status/854191519812657152

Jamie Macoun said similar: https://twitter.com/JamieMacoun/stat...92731819606016

Ultimately, I don't think it is an anti-Flames conspiracy. But, the league has its pet franchises. If Chicago or Pittsburgh scores that high stick goal, it would count. Calgary, Nashville and Columbus most likely have it overturned. Even with the same angles and same reviewers.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by Displaced Flames fan

I can't believe in a conspiracy.

Why the weak goalie interference call (IMO) on Lindholm then?

When people are looking to correlate things like this they tend to ignore evidence that doesn't support it.

Evidence, like 5 PP's to 0

[MacFlame]

...against the Flames? Not, particularly.

But, there are way too many coincidences going on league wide (including the Flames) that raise my eyebrows.

[DJones]

Not a conspiracy, just gross incompetence.

They even tried to balance the penalties last game but just weren't capable of getting the highsticking call right.

[Roof-Daddy]

There is no conspiracy.

Its just that the officiating in this league is very incompetent and inconsistent, and unfortunately for the Flames (and us Flames fans) we've been on the wrong end of it for key moments in this series.

The Wideman effect is pretty hard to deny though back when he was still playing. Going from being one of the least penalized teams to most penalized teams almost over night is a black mark on this leagues officiating IMO and goes to show how easily the officials personal discretion can influence how they apply the rules to each game they call.

[GGG]

The Widemen affect also shows itself to be when the flames were tanking the end of the season and the terrible start to this season. The affect dissipates in about January of this year.

So were the flames out of position and taking more and drawing fewer penalties due to coaching adjustements and as they learnt the system those went away

or

Did the January meeting fix the NHLs reffing issue.

Either way the Wideman affect has not existed since January.

[Regorium]

No conspiracy. Just complete idiocy.

Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

You could tell the Flames were doing their best to play disciplined. They took so many chops in faceoff circles, after the whistles without any retaliation. They were rewarded for that as they should've been (though some people love game management by the refs, but not me). But the high stick was just incompetence on the part of the NHL.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Ultimately, I don't think it is an anti-Flames conspiracy. But, the league has its pet franchises. If Chicago or Pittsburgh scores that high stick goal, it would count.

Even granting your premise, there is no way that the Anaheim freaking Ducks could ever, in your wildest imaginings, be considered a "pet franchise" for the NHL.

Moreover, in this specific case, there is no strategic reason for preferring a Ducks victory over a Flames victory. The possibility of a Battle of Alberta series featuring Connor McDavid would have everyone at the league office salivating.

I get the "blame the refs" thing as a matter of venting frustration, but leave it at that. Don't convince yourself it's an actual thing. It was 4-1. They lost the game themselves.

[Macindoc]

It's not a conspiracy, but there may be some subconscious biases on the part of individual officials that are affecting the outcome of borderline calls. The probability of the Flames being in the league's five most disciplined teams pre-Wideman and the least disciplined post-Wideman with the change of a single 2nd/3rd pairing D is next to zero, as is the huge difference between successful challenges for and successful challenges against the Flames (although you could argue that poor coaching decisions contributed to the latter). Two controversial goal reviews going against the Flames in the past two games can give the feeling of conspiracy, but the sample size is small. So I believe that something is there, but it is unintentional and unplanned.

[schteve_d]

Originally Posted by polak

It's not Flames fans. It's CP. No one in the office is blaming the teams misfortunes on the refs...

Well that is not entirely true. I seem to remember in a broadcast earlier in the season that the team had sat down with officials and some suspect calls were reviewed. From what I understand it was shown to not have basis, but the point is that it did get bad enough for the team to make some noise about it.

I looked quickly and couldn't find a link, but I'm sure others remember the discussion as well.

[Russic]

If you spend any time getting into the murky depths of another team's fanbase, you'll quickly realize this isn't a CP thing – it's just a sports thing. The "us vs. the world" feels unique but you'd be hard pressed to find a team with fans that don't feel it.

I remember Bob Mackenzie did an article a few years back on what it's like when you work in hockey and the fan inside you dies. I think fans have a very hard time understanding that position, but I truly believe most people who work within the sport have zero allegiance to any one team.

[shermanator]

FFS, there is no conspiracy against the Flames. It's embarrassing to be lumped in with the same fan base that thinks this.

[BigT112]

Haha! The NHL is not run nearly well enough to perpetrate a conspiracy against a team. There would be leaks galore.

While some teams may get more beneficial treatment from the league, there isn't a conspiracy against them. Like the NHL could ever pull something off like that.

[The Yen Man]

As a Flames fan, it sure does feel like a conspiracy. But if I'm completely honest, it's not conspiracy, it's simply incompetence. The refs have failed at doing their jobs properly, and it's a travesty to us fans. We just want a freaking consistent game, not crap that's up to the whims of the refs. What is or isn't a penalty is always up in the air. Simply put, the refs suck at their jobs.

[Erick Estrada]

I'm a believer in the "Wideman effect". The statistics are overwhelming evidence to support that the officials started calling more penalties on the Flames after the incident. However I don't feel the "Wideman effect" has played any role in this series at all. Flames were undisciplined in the first two games and deserved most of the penalties and lets be honest you can go into any post game thread for any NHL losing team and see plenty of fans blaming the officials. It's just the way it is when your team loses a close game. I don't think Toronto has done a great job in the replay rulings in games 2 and 3 but knowing how inconstant they are it's not exactly a shock that we would be unhappy with their rulings.

The Flames have been done in by different things over the three games whether it be poor discipline, poor goaltending, or simply bad luck but the Ducks are playing a role in this and they have been calm, cool, never panicking when behind and never handing the Flames easy goals. They are simply a little better at everything right now from coaching to goaltending.

[Lord Carnage]

Conspiracy? That's probably a stretch for sure...

That being said, it seems that goal reviews are where we've particularly gotten the short end of the stick... I don't think the Flames/Gulutzan were given the benefit of the doubt on a single "questionable" call all year - if there was a contested goal, the call went against us.

Then two more in the playoffs, and even the one from Bennett two years ago (if you want to dig up old wounds).

I guess we could say that we just challenged at bad times, but even a blind chick gets a piece of corn once in a while...

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Even granting your premise, there is no way that the Anaheim freaking Ducks could ever, in your wildest imaginings, be considered a "pet franchise" for the NHL.

Moreover, in this specific case, there is no strategic reason for preferring a Ducks victory over a Flames victory. The possibility of a Battle of Alberta series featuring Connor McDavid would have everyone at the league office salivating.

No west coast team for NBC to trot out would not have the league salivating. The league office cares far more about attracting American viewers than it does Canadian.

[CaramonLS]

Would be curious to know the challenge success/fail rates for teams and see how often the calls go against them or are overturned.

Anecdotally it seems like the "war room" has a major problem with the Flames.

[BruceCody]

Flames players conspiracy against the Flames? interesting

[Steve Bozek]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

He kind of did - there was about a 5 minute video review after that goal. No need to call another timeout there.

Except, during the video review the players and coach were hoping/expecting the goal would be overturned. With hindsight, the players played like that decision unsettled them, and a coach's timeout to try to inspire some confidence might have been helpful.